Stay in touch

You are here

Fighting The High Cost Of Rx Drugs

AN INDUSTRY-WIDE TACTIC—At least eight of the top 10 drug makers have paid off their competition to block generics from entering the market. The FTC estimates that pay for delay deals cost consumers and taxpayers $3.5 billion every year in higher drug prices.

It's Time To End Pay For Delay

DRIVING UP THE COST OF RX DRUGS

We all know prescription drugs cost too much. That’s partly because brand-name drug companies have been paying off generic drug makers to delay competition and keep prices high. This practice, called “pay for delay,” is commonplace in the pharmaceutical industry.

It's anti-competitive. It's hurting consumers. And it has to stop.

WE PAY THE PRICECompetition is known to bring drug prices down 85-90 percent:

A 30-day supply of the cholesterol drug Lipitor costs $194. The generic equivalent? Only $16.

The medication needed to prevent blood costs, Plavix, costs $205, while its generic equivalent is $13 for that same 30-day supply.

The antibiotic Cipro, used to treat a number of infections, costs $52; the generic costs $7.

And because drug companies can use pay for delay to maintain their strangle hold on the market long after their active-ingredient patents expire, consumers who rely on these drugs for their health are often forced to pay these higher prices for years before they see the generic.

CASE STUDY: Experts expected narcolepsy drug Provigil to go generic in 2006, but pay-for-delay deals kept the generic off the market until 2012. In the meantime, many multiple sclerosis patients had to pay over $1,200 each month for the drug, or manage without it. Bad news for consumers, but good news for the drug company. As the CEO of Cephalon, the drug company that makes Provigil, said about the deal, “We got six more years of patent protection. That’s $4 billion in sales that no one expected.”

TAKING ON BIG PHARMADrug companies spend more on lobbying than any other industry. But if we build enough public support, we can stop the industry's pay-for-delay scheme and bring down drug and health care costs for consumers and taxpayers.

We're calling on Congress to put an end to pay for delay once and for all.

U.S. PIRG Education Fund celebrated the kick-off of its new health care outreach and education effort focusing on young Americans. The outreach effort comes as the Affordable Care Act’s “health insurance marketplaces” prepare to open in states across the country.

Today, Mike Russo, U.S. PIRG's Federal Program Director, testified at a hearing on “Pay-for-Delay Deals: Limiting Competition and Costing Consumers” held by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition and Consumer Rights.

U.S. PIRG Education Fund celebrated the kick-off of its new health care outreach and education effort focusing on young Americans. The outreach effort comes as the Affordable Care Act’s “health insurance marketplaces” prepare to open in states across the country.

Today, Mike Russo, U.S. PIRG's Federal Program Director, testified at a hearing on “Pay-for-Delay Deals: Limiting Competition and Costing Consumers” held by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition and Consumer Rights.

Americans with cancer, heart disease, epilepsy and other conditions have been forced to pay an average of 10 times more than necessary for at least 20 blockbuster drugs, according to a report released today by Community Catalyst and U.S. PIRG.

Pages

Across the country, U.S. PIRG has stood up against unjustified rate hikes and won victories in Oregon and California so far. Thanks in part to our advocacy, California now requires insurers to justify rate hikes to the public, and Oregon state regulators recently cut a proposed 22% rate hike almost in half, saving $12.5 million for some ratepayers.

This year, the federal health care reforms that U.S. PIRG worked to win have started to pay off for young people. In the past, teens saw their premiums soar or were denied coverage when they turned 19, even if they’d been insured their whole lives. Now, they can remain on their parents’ plans until age 26.

Our research revealed 20 major drugs that were subject to an industry practice called “pay for delay,” in which brand name pharmaceutical companies pay off generic drug manufacturers to keep lower cost equivalents off the market, forcing consumers to pay higher brand-name drug prices.

Compounding pharmacies are increasingly behaving like pharmaceutical companies by producing drugs in bulk, despite the fact that they are not inspected or regulated like the pharmaceutical industry. Due to this lack of oversight, many compounding pharmacies have not adhered to safe manufacturing practices, and shown little regard for consumer safety. According to an analysis of warning letters sent to other compounding pharmacies by the FDA from 2002 to 2012, there is a long history of violations that have in many cases led to unnecessary illness, injury, and even death.

This report assesses the progress that the states have made, and for the states that have begun to set up their health care exchange, evaluates them on the myriad policies and criteria that will determine whether it is ultimately successful in improving health care for consumers.

The creation of a new health insurance exchange offers our state the chance to build a better marketplace for health care. The exchange can help individuals and small businesses by increasing competition and improving choices in the state’s insurance market. By providing better options and better information, and negotiating on behalf of its enrollees, the exchange can level the playing field for consumers.

Pages

Everyone knows prescription drugs cost much more than they should. But many people are surprised to learn about one of the key ways drug companies keep prices high: Paying off competitors to keep generics off the market. On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case about this very practice.

Today, PIRGs around the country released our 27th annual Trouble In Toyland report, highlighting potential choking, toxics, magnet and noise hazards kids may face. Here are a few photos from our DC event, where we were joined by Dr. Bryan Rudolph, a pediatric gastroenterologist, and Bob Adler, a Commissioner of the CPSC.

Adweek profiles FTC consumer chief David Vladeck and his campaign to make yogurt makers, athletic apparel makers, cereal makers and household name firms from Reebok and Skechers to Kellogg's and Dannon to either tell the truth about their health claims or pay. It's a nice piece on the FTC's work and on the longtime consumer champion, who heads back to his Georgetown Law professorship at the end of the year.

Now that the election is over, talk has turned to the need to work together and get results for America. It’s a tall order, and on the polarized issue of health care, it may seem like an impossible task. But here's why I'm optimistic that we can in fact make progress.

Is your pharmacy refilling your prescription without your knowledge or approval, and billing your insurance company for the cost? If so, it’s the latest example of waste we shouldn't tolerate in our health care system.